The Center for Accelerated Realtime Analytics (CARTA) is an NSF-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC). CARTA aims to develop long-term partnerships among industry, academia, and government.
CARTA Phase II sites include the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Rutgers University, University of Miami (UMiami) and Arizona State University (ASU).
CARTA Phase I sites included the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Rutgers University, North Carolina State University (NCSU), and University of Miami (UMiami). Rutgers University, NWK was a CARTA site for the 1st two years.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) provides base operational funding to each University partner. CARTA is primarily supported by industry center members, with NSF taking an oversight role in the development and evolution of the center. Each site is expected to maintain a minimum number of industry members to be eligible for NSF support. All I/UCRCs have a standard membership agreement approved by NSF that entails IP rights and allows for collaboration among partnering universities and potential collaboration with other I/UCRCs.
Once an industry and/or government agency signs the membership agreement, they automatically become a CARTA Industry Advisory Board (IAB) member, which reviews and approves university proposals with the membership funds. Members of CARTA review all proposals and are exposed to all project progress results presented at the semi-annual IAB meetings. The proposed projects conduct research that is of interest and relevance to both the industry members and the center faculty. Thus, an I/UCRC contributes to the nation’s research infrastructure base and enhances the intellectual capacity of the engineering and science workforce through the integration of research and education. When relevant, CARTA participates in international I/UCRC collaborations with NSF approved funding subject to the same membership agreements to advance research goals within the global context.
CARTA Funding Structure
NSF provides base funds for CARTA via I/UCRC grants
Base grant to each participating university site for infrastructure costs
Industry and govt. partners support CARTA through memberships. Partners may hold multiple memberships.
Membership Fee: $50K per annum and small businesses $25K.
The base cost of a graduate student for one year includes a stipend, tuition, insurance, and related expenses incl. ODC is <60K
Each university supplements the costs of CARTA operations
45% university matching of industry membership fees by reducing ODCs on membership fees to 10%
CARTA funding leverage is greater than 3:1.
CARTA IAB Membership Benefits
Research, collaboration, and oversight:
- Selection of project topics that membership resources support
- Direct influence over cutting-edge research of prime interest
- NSF reporting & IAB reviews on a semiannual formal basis
- Rapid transfer of results from projects to all sites of CARTA
Leveraging Resources and Synergy:
- Access to university research labs with world-class facilities
- Highly leveraged and synergistic pool of multicore computing resources
- Cost-effective R&D in today’s budget-tight environment, ideal for Return on Investment (ROI)
Personnel and Recruitment:
- Access to a strong cadre of faculty, students, and post-docs
- Strong pool of students with experience for internships with industry
- Offering of computational science curricula, theory and practice